King faces a confirmation vote

With help from Allie Grasgreen Ciaramella, Caitlin Emma and Maggie Severns

KING FOR A YEAR: The Senate HELP Committee will vote on the nomination of John B. King Jr. as education secretary this morning. If King’s February nomination hearing is any indication, committee members have plenty of questions and concerns about the current Acting Education Secretary — but not so much that they’re interested in hindering his nomination. In the days leading up to the vote, King notified the committee in response to a question from Sen. Elizabeth Warren that the department would automatically give refunds to military members going back to 2008 who were overcharged on their student loan interest rates [ http://politico.pro/1Tn2gPw]. The department has not released an estimate of the approximate number of military members affected. The executive session starts at 10 a.m. in 106 Dirksen Senate Office Building. Watch the livestream: http://1.usa.gov/1SxW0n0.

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— Later today, King will call for reauthorization of the Carl D. Perkins Career & Technical Education Act and announce a new "Career and Technical Education Makeover Challenge” [ http://bit.ly/1TIX0Gc]. Career and technical education “is about the future you can’t prepare for with just a textbook,” King will say, according to prepared remarks, in Baltimore. “It’s about learning how to build your own business, from an idea to a prototype and beyond. It’s about creating new tools to solve everyday problems. It’s about applying practical skills to tackle major challenges, like global warming or public health crises. One thing is clear — it’s not your grandfather’s ‘shop class’.” More from Maggie Severns: http://politico.pro/21XavXc

— Also today,the White House said some international students earning STEM degrees from accredited U.S. universities can stay in the country for a total of two years after graduation to participate in on-the-job training within the STEM fields, because of a new Department of Homeland Security rule. DHS estimates that about 34,000 people are in the program now.

FAFSA FILERS FOILED: Student advocates are worried that a growing gap between FAFSA submission and completion rates exposes a problem with the Education Department’s new data security process. The department this year required filers and their parents to each have an FSA ID, an electronic signature that replaced four-digit PINs. But the extensive security requirements could ultimately keep students from meeting spring FAFSA deadlines for state and institutional aid. Those measures include four drop-down questions, a self-created open-ended question and the selection of a significant date other than one’s birthday, as well as a 30-minute lockout period when a student gets the login information wrong — time that could have been reserved for meeting with a financial aid counselor.

— Filers getting to the FAFSA finish line dropped 7 percent as of last month compared to last year [ http://bit.ly/1QEXpH5]. National College Access Network members say anecdotal evidence indicates that either because of a lack of technology or an adult’s general absence from the process, students aren’t getting the parent signature they need — either via an FSA ID or a mailed, written version — to actually complete and file the form. The pattern is “heartbreaking,” NCAN Executive Director Kim Cook said: “You got the student to the final-yard line, and we need a signature to put them over the top, but a process is standing in the way of that.” Federal Student Aid officials said they plan additional outreach to address the issue: http://bit.ly/1p5UmwL.

— But for some students it may be too late. The March 1 priority deadline many states and schools use has passed, and for those with limited funds or who assign aid on a first-come, first-served basis, coffers may be empty. A few other states have deadlines approaching this Friday. “We fully appreciate that a four-digit PIN was probably not enough security, considering that you’re moving around IRS data,” Cook said. “Perhaps there is a better balance, or happy medium, to strike that delicate balance between data security and integrity and not creating additional barriers for students.”

— On that note, NCAN just announced a competitive grant program for cities to raise FAFSA completion rates for the high school senior class of 2017: http://bit.ly/1UQDV3Q.

CORINTHIAN BUYERS AIM TO LIMIT OVERBORROWING: Zenith Education Group says staffers will encourage all student borrowers at its Everest and WyoTech campuses to take a one- to two-day “breather period” before signing student loan paperwork. When the new operator of those campuses formerly owned by Corinthian Colleges piloted the option on seven campuses last fall, students were one-third less likely to take out the maximum amount of available loans. Students who opt to postpone borrowing are offered “follow-up assignments,” such as completing the FAFSA or researching future income expectations. If the student then decides against pulling the trigger, they can decline a second meeting with their financial aid planner. In another pilot launching imminently at Everest University Online, students will receive new personal financial workbooks, which serve as a guide for the new financial aid process and were inspired by “students’ expressed need for personalized information.”

— Career training programs nationwide may be taking note, after the U.S. Court of Appeals D.C. District upheld the Education Department’s gainful employment regulation Tuesday. Government lawyers had argued in court that colleges should do what they can to keep graduates’ debt-to-earnings ratio low. Allie Grasgreen Ciaramella has more on the decision: http://politico.pro/1UQvXrq and http://politico.pro/1TIV14V.

DISPATCH FROM SXSWedu: Thousands of students have indicated that they’re interested in getting credit since Arizona State University and edX announced [ http://politico.pro/1UbIAgi] a partnership last year to make freshman year available to students entirely online, allowing students to complete the courses and then decide later whether they want to pay for academic credit. edX CEO Anant Agarwal told our own Caitlin Emma at SXSWedu in Austin that while just 323 learners were actually eligible for credit in the Global Freshman Academy’s first year, he expects that to grow. Having online courses deliver real credit has rocketed edX into an era of “MOOCS 2.0,” he said. Thinking ahead, Agarwal said he’s also focused on a recent announcement [ http://bit.ly/1U28unX] to pilot “MicroMaster’s,” which will allow learners to take a semester of courses online and then spend a single semester on campus. The pilot now offers only the courses in “supply chain management,” but Agarwal said he hopes to expand it to dozens of subject areas in the coming years.

ARIZONA’S APPETITE FOR A MENU OF TESTS: There’s a good chance that Republican Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey will sign a bill that would make the state the first in the nation to offer schools a menu of assessment options. The legislation doesn’t let parents opt children out of tests, but would comes as the opt-out movement warns of another strong showing this spring. The state board would have to approve alternative tests. State lawmakers envision a scenario where schools use the ACT instead of the state standardized test, for example. The Obama administration has supported some states that wanted to move from the state test to the ACT or SAT in high school for accountability. And the Every Student Succeeds Act provides states with the flexibility to pursue this option. But federal officials might take issue with individual schools using different tests for accountability because it could become difficult to measure student learning across the state and hold all schools accountable to a similar standard. More in The Republic: http://bit.ly/1UcaNng.

— In other state news, districts in Wisconsin will be able to hire vocational teachers lacking a traditional teaching license, thanks to legislation Republican Gov. Scott Walker signed Tuesday. Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel: http://bit.ly/1ped1aB.

— In Maryland, students’ sensitive personally identifiable information wasn’t properly protected by the Maryland Longitudinal Data System Center, which manages student and workforce data, the state Office of Legislative Audits said. The Center said it has addressed that problem as a new audit recommended. And its servers weren’t adequately secured, the Legislative Audits Office found, something the Center said it is working to correct. The Audit: http://bit.ly/1nv8Yol.

— And in Illinois,Moody’s saysthat its affirmation of five Illinois public universities highlights “the relative strength of the universities' liquidity positions, available reserves, ability to reduce expenses and overall financial performance in the absence of state operating appropriations and no short-term debt financing options.” That’s despite recent downgrading of ratings at Eastern Illinois, Northern Illinois and Northeastern Illinois universities.

NO CANDIDATE LEFT BEHIND: Seth Gitell, then a political columnist for the New York Sun, attended Trump University — then Trump Wealth Institute — at a hotel in a Boston suburb nearly a decade ago. “Although the seminar had been billed as a kind of on-ramp to Trump-style success, it was little more than a Trump-branded infomercial for real-estate-investment advice. The people I saw at the Trump seminar were looking for something that went beyond money. They were looking for an opportunity for a better life. For hope during a difficult time. For all of the things, one imagines, that disenfranchised voters across the country are now drawn to in the tough-talking candidacy of Donald J. Trump,” Gitell writes for POLITICO Magazine. “At the time, I remember thinking that maybe the specific advice wasn’t what was important. Maybe the instructor’s insistent enthusiasm would be enough of a confidence boost to the would-be entrepreneurs in the room to take control of their lives. Who knows? People presumably went into seminars like that with their eyes open, right? Now, with Trump University ensnared in litigation, it’s clear that not every student of Trump University was as skeptical as I was.” More: http://politi.co/1OZ80a8.

— Bernie Sanders’ campaign filed a federal lawsuit against Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted, accusing him of unlawfully blocking 17-year-old voters from casting ballots next week. The suit [ http://bit.ly/1UcvDmn] says Husted’s action would not only “arbitrarily discriminate” against young minority voters but also violate the due process and equal protection provisions of the 14th Amendment. Ohio permits 17-year-olds who will turn 18 before the general election to vote in primaries. But Husted published a revised election manual that ruled such voters ineligible during the primary: http://politi.co/1pwlwh1. In decades-old testimony, Sanders described his work as a campus organizer in the 1960s for the Congress of Racial Equality. Mother Jones: http://bit.ly/1TpSb4m.

IMMIGRATION ACTION: Democratic lawmakers are again marshaling overwhelming support for President Barack Obama's executive actions on immigration, whose future now hangs in the balance at the Supreme Court. More than 200 Democrats are backing a new amicus brief arguing the controversial actions Obama took in November 2014 that could defer deportations and grant work permits to more than 4 million immigrants here illegally are both legal and constitutional. The Supreme Court will hear the immigration case on April 18. More: http://politi.co/1X9KJsc.

— Senate HELP Committee Ranking Member Patty Murray told attendees at the National Council of La Raza awards that the Supreme Court’s forthcoming decision on Obama’s executive actions on deferred action for immigrant youth will be “be a momentous decision for so many families in our country.” Murray on Tuesday called for comprehensive immigration reform and said that “it’s time for the Supreme Court to rule in favor of children and families.” She and HELP Chairman Lamar Alexander were honored at the dinner for their work on the Every Student Succeeds Act.

MOVERS AND SHAKERS

— University of Wisconsin at Madison professor Sara Goldrick-Rab, well-known for her research and criticism of Republican Gov. Scott Walker, will become a higher education policy and sociology professor at Temple University on July 1: http://bit.ly/1TpsLni.

— The American Council on Education announced Brice W. Harris, chancellor of California Community Colleges, will receive the ACE Lifetime Achievement Award at the group’s annual meeting, on March 13 in San Francisco.

— Daniel P. Kelley, principal of Smithfield High School in Smithfield, R.I., was appointed president-elect of the National Association of Secondary School Principals. He begins July 1 and succeeds Jayne Ellspermann as president in 2017.

— C.E. Andrews, CEO of MorganFranklin Consulting and former CEO of Sallie Mae, has joined the Vemo Education Board of Directors.

— Francis J. Ricciardone, vice president and director of the Rafik Hariri Center for the Middle East at the Atlantic Council and a former U.S. ambassador to Egypt, will take over as president of the American University in Cairo on July 1.

REPORT ROLL CALL

— The Education Commission of the States takes a state-by-state look at the constitutional foundation for public education in each state: http://bit.ly/1X7GYU4.

— Building a career continuum for teachers can address persistent recruitment, retention and job satisfaction challenges. Pearson’s Research & Innovation Network and the National Network of State Teachers of the Year: http://bit.ly/1QJpQjG.

— Nearly half of children in the United States live dangerously close to the poverty line. Columbia University’s National Center for Children in Poverty: http://bit.ly/1VQMBWi.

— More than 61 million immigrants and their American-born children under age 18 now live in the United States. Center for Immigration Studies: http://bit.ly/1UM30gi.

— To transform professional learning so that it really supports educator learning, education leaders will need to employ strategies to improve teacher agency. Learning Forward and the National Commission on Teaching and America’s Future: http://bit.ly/1TmzChf.

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About The Author : Kimberly Hefling

Prior to joining POLITICO Pro in summer 2015, Ms. Hefling served as the national education writer for The Associated Press. During her 18-year career at the AP, she covered diverse topics that included veterans and military home front issues and Pennsylvania politics. She also served as an embedded reported with the 101st Airborne Division early in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

In 2015, she received third place in education writing in the National Headliner Awards competition.

She is a native of Wichita, Kansas, and graduated from Kansas State University. She’s married and enjoys going to parks, swimming pools and libraries with her two young kids.